Viking helps firms identify themselves

MANTECA - Driving around the city at night, Andy Jimenez looks closely at building signs.

Katie Combs

MANTECA - Driving around the city at night, Andy Jimenez looks closely at building signs.

If a letter is unlit or a logo askew, out come the business cards.

"I've drummed up a little bit of local business doing that," said Jimenez, owner of Viking Sign Installations.

The Manteca-based company installs and services signs across Northern and Central California. The company does not manufacture the signs.

There are small jobs, like applying vinyl business hour listings to windows. There are large jobs, like putting up 80-foot-tall pylon signs. And there's everything in between.

Jimenez started the company just a year ago, after his previous employer went out of business.

"I did not want to be out of a job, so I took a chance and started my own," he said. "It was kind of scary."

He's been in the sign industry for nearly 20 years, but wearing the owner's hat has been a change of pace.

"It's a different feeling being responsible for other people's livelihood. It's not just me," Jimenez said.

Though some cautioned Jimenez about starting a business in a bad economy, Viking Sign has kept busy and found success. Much of the company's clientele is on a national level, including accounts with Bank of the West, Jack in the Box, In-N-Out Burger and Holiday Inn.

"Knock on wood," he said, "we're still very, very busy."

Jimenez, who climbed ladders and dug holes as an installer before transitioning to management roles, admited to a long-standing fascination with signs.

"Everywhere I go, I look at a company and a building's signs," he said. "I try to picture how the install crew went about doing it - the electrical connections and all that stuff that people just take for granted."